This invention relates to the repair and maintenance of indoor or outdoor recreational surfaces and, particularly, to the resurfacing of tennis courts.
In the past, acrylic resurfacing material typically employed for tennis courts, has been applied manually and thereafter spread about by a number of individuals working with hand-held, squeegee-like spreaders. The resulting surface coating often varies in thickness and exhibits unsightly streaks resulting from the uneven application and multi-directional spreading techniques common in the prior art. The surface coating can range from thin to thick and, as a result, often shows noticeable deterioration even within one year after resurfacing.
The prior art method is also labor intensive, time consuming and therefore very costly. More importantly, a quality-result is not assured.
According to the present invention, apparatus and a process for resurfacing recreational surfaces, particularly tennis courts, are presented herein which have several advantages over the prior art.
The present invention relates to a mobile, self-propelled device which can uniformly spread and smooth resurfacing material at a predetermined thickness. In addition, the self-propelled device of this invention can resurface a regulation size tennis court in a fraction of the time required by conventional techniques.
According to one exemplary embodiment of the invention, an elongated box-shaped frame, preferably constructed in three separable sections, is supported on a plurality of directionally adjustable wheels, or casters, for movement in any one of a plurality of selectively chosen directions. The total length of the three-section frame may be varied as desired but preferably exceeds the width of a regulation size tennis court.
A variable speed, reversible drive motor, preferably a gasoline or diesel internal combustion engine, provides power input to a pair of drive wheels which can be moved by way of a manually operated handle from an inoperable position wherein the wheels are held above ground, to an operable position where the wheels are in contact with the ground so as to move the machine in the selected direction.
It will be appreciated that since the machine is designed to operate in either of two opposite directions, and since the structure on both longitudinal sides of the machine is essentially identical, the terms front and rear, and forward and reverse, have no particular meaning absent some point of reference. For ease of discussion herein, the "front" of the machine merely refers to that side facing in the direction of movement, and the "rear" of the machine refers to that side which faces away from the direction of movement. Mounted to lower horizontal beam members of the box-like frame, along both front and rear sides of the apparatus, are flexible rubber spreading and smoothing blades, as well as flexible bristle brush means. Adjustable mounting brackets along both longitudinal sides of the machine enable the machine operator to rotate either the blade or brush means into operable position on either side of the machine depending on the direction of machine movement, as explained further hereinbelow.
In a preferred arrangement, when the machine is moving in one direction, the flexible blade means in the front of the machine and the brush means in the rear of the machine will be in operable positions. When the machine moves in the opposite direction, the operator manually reverses the blade/brush assemblies. In other words, the flexible blade means are always leading and the brush means are always trailing during any resurfacing operation. In one exemplary embodiment of the invention the blade/brush assemblies on both sides of the machine are interconnected for simultaneous movement between inoperative and operative positions.
This arrangement is particularly advantageous insofar as the flexible blade means serve to spread and smooth out the resurfacing material at a uniform predetermined thickness while the trailing brush means serve to further smooth out the resurfacing material and, particularly, to eliminate any tracks or other surface disturbances caused by either the casters or drive wheels or both.
It will be understood that the flexible blade means and brush means are angularly adjustable with respect to the ground. Moreover, the flexible blade means, preferably made of rubber, may be selected on the basis of hardness (Durometer value), so that, by careful coordination of mounting angle and blade hardness, the thickness of the coating of material may be predetermined and held uniform throughout the resurfacing operation.
It is further contemplated by this invention that the machine be capable of slight steering corrections, on the order of a degree or more, so as to insure proper alignment of the machine with respect to the boundaries of the tennis court. This is accomplished by permitting a slight angular shifting of the drive means of the machine.
The process aspects of the invention involve (1) positioning of the resurfacing machine at a first end, but outside the boundaries, of a tennis court, and preferably parallel to one of the end lines; (2) applying resurfacing material in front of the machine, preferably along its entire length in a series of spaced lengthwise masses, or windrows; and (3) moving the machine forwardly along at least the entire length of the tennis court and beyond the other end line, spreading out and smoothing the resurfacing material by the leading blade means, and smoothing out the caster and drive wheel tracks by the trailing brush means.
In the event that an adjacent, second court is to be resurfaced, the drive wheels are disengaged and the caster directions adjusted to enable the machine to be moved laterally to a position at the second end of the second court. The casters are then readjusted and the blade and brush means reversed. After additional resurfacing material is applied as described above, the machine is then driven along the length of the second court in a direction opposite that traveled during resurfacing of the first court.
It will be understood that during movement of the machine, resurfacing material is added as needed in front of, and along the length of the machine, generally parallel to the flexible blade means.
When the operation is completed, the various sections may be disassembled and transported to the next job site.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the detailed discussion which follows.